Mattresses and Product Stewardship

The California Senate passed SB 1118 on May 31, as a mattress recycling bill, and the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources amended and passed the bill as a stewardship bill on July 2. SB 1118, as amended, would require that mattress manufacturers create and finance plans for mattress collection and recycling by 2013. Assembly Appropriations has until August 17 to consider the bill. A mattress stewardship bill in Connecticut died after passing the Senate but not the House in early May, and a similar stewardship bill in Rhode Island also died in committee in April. Meanwhile, Metro Vancouver, BC, recycled 125,000 mattresses and three recycling businesses sprang to life since their Jan. 2011 mattress disposal ban. For more on mattresses, read the recent eNewsLink mattress newsletter, this July 12 NPR story on St. Vincent de Paul, or visit the Council’s Mattress site.